Bounty on Conservative Nomination Candidate Signals China’s Election Interference, Rights Advocates Say

Joe Tay, a singer and actor who moved from Hong Kong to Canada, is seen in a file photo. Tay is a candidate for the Conservative Party nomination in the Ontario riding of Markham-Unionville.

Critics say the Hong Kong government’s arrest warrant and bounty against activist Joe Tay, a candidate for federal Conservative Party nomination, signals renewed Chinese interference in Canada’s elections.

Tay is seeking the Conservative nomination in Ontario’s Markham-Unionville riding. Hong Kong’s measures, announced on Dec. 24, 2024, targeted Tay along with five other rights advocates, including fellow Canadian Victor Ho based in Vancouver. The six were accused of having committed offences under the Chinese regime’s national security law for Hong Kong, a controversial statute that has been used to charge democracy activists with secession, subversion, and collusion with foreign forces.